Afghan pilot training at Dehdadi and Mazar-i-Sharif airport in the second half of the 1970s.

Basic version MiG-17 Fresco-A trainer aircraft of the Afghan 393rd Training Air Regiment and their crew at Dehdadi's dusty airfield in the late 1970s. The front of the aircraft row shows the Afghan Air Force's only An-30 Clank reconnaissance aircraft.

Afghanistan pilot training MiG-17 Fresco-A at Dehdadi airfield

Soviet advisors and Afghan officer at the Dehdadi airfield

Soviet and Afghan trainers in front of the Afghan L-39C Albatros aircrafts

Afghan pilot training L-39C Albatros at Dehdadi airfield in 1979

Afghanistan pilot training L-39C Albatros at Dehdadi airfield in 1979

Afghan Instructors and Soviet advisor at the Defdadi airport in 1979

Afghan pilot training MiG-17 Fresco-A at Dehdadi airfield in 1979

Afghanistan pilot training MiG-17 Fresco-A at Dehdadi airfield in 1979

Basic version MiG-17 ‘Fresco-A’ trainer aircraft of the Afghan 393rd Training Air Regiment and their crew at Dehdadi's dusty airfield in the late 1970s. The front of the aircraft row shows the Afghan Air Force's only An-30 ‘Clank’ reconnaissance aircraft in 1979.

Afghan pilot training
at Dehdadi and Mazar-i-Sharif airport in the second half of the 1970s.

Soviet advisors and Afghan officer at the Dehdadi airfield in 1979

Soviet and Afghan trainers in front of the Afghan L-39C Albatros aircrafts in 1979

Afghan crews at Mazar-i-Sharif airport in front of L-39C Albatros and Mi-8T ‘Hip-C’ helicopter. The Mazar-i-Sharif airport has a paved runway of around 1.86 mi (3.00 km).

Soviet trainer and two Afghan student with their L-39C Albatros at Dehdadi. This airfield has a unpaved runway of 1.24 mi (2.00 km)

The Afghan Flight Technical School was established in 1957 at Kabul airport, originally with Yakolev piston engine aircraft types.

In the 1970s, the training period for pilots was 3 calendar years. The students studied theoretical subjects in the first year in Kabul. This was followed by practical training at Mazar-i-Sharif and Dehdadi airports for two years on the 393rd Training Air Regiment with MiG-15UTI ‘Midget’ and MiG-17 ‘Fresco-A’ types. The training was slow and insufficient. There were no technical books or written instructions, the trainers translated from Russian to Dari and Pashto language only from their memory. Everything happened slow and deliberate.

Afghan pilot instructors were also in short supply. For forty positions, there were only 20-25 instructors and they hadn't flown much before the 1978 Saur Revolution.

The Soviet Union was not satisfied with the Afghan pilot training system. They sent more advisors, pilot instructors and modern L-39C Albatros trainer aircrafts to Afghanistan. Besides the Afghan trainers, Soviet pilots also gave lessons to the Afghan students at the 393rd Training Air Regiment in Mazar-i-Sharif and Dehdadi airports.

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